TX: Clinton spokeswoman: "We mistakenly called Obama delegates" (blames Party for bad info)

[rainbow4321]

Found this in the TX convention thread, thought the Clinton camp "confession" was worthy of it's own thread



http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/29/0329conventions.html


Activists for Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton voiced concerns Friday about misinformation reaching supporters on the eve of pivotal regional conventions as the Texas Democratic Party warned against heeding reported automated phone calls saying conventions are canceled.

Clinton spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod said any calls in support of Clinton that were made to Obama delegates were based on flawed information provided by the party.

"We've mistakenly called a few delegates we thought were ours," Elrod said. "We want to focus our time reaching out to our own delegates."

Concerns emerged on the eve of some 260 regional Democratic conventions statewide that could signal whether Obama did well enough at precinct caucuses the night of the March 4 primary to erase Clinton's edge of four pledged delegates from her win of the state's popular vote that day.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. This is the "big deal" that got 140+ recs?

:rofl:
Poor DUbamas.

[billybob537]

2. That would be funny if Hillary were in the lead!

But she's not and she wont be. It's over for her and she's the only one who doesn't see it!

[MethuenProgressive]

3. "she's the only one who doesn't see it"

:rofl:
Wright.

[npincus]

10. that's the best you've got?

[40ozDonkey]

14. Of course it is, hadn't you noticed?

Hillary paid me 1.2 million dollars to follow Jeremiah Wright around on Google Earth.

(Don't tell her it doesn't work. Her check hasn't cleared yet.)

[rainbow4321]

22. Wait..you actually got a Hillary CHECK????

and not a Hillary IOU slip???? Or is the check postdated...til Dec 31 2050?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. No.

That was due to a report from the Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie saying there were supposedly some calls going out falsely telling delegates their Senatorial District/County Conventions had been canceled.

I feel that was no doubt due to Republican dirty tricks in an attempt to weaken our growing Democratic presence in Texas.

I'm off to my Convention now, which wasn't canceled and will be the largest in my counties history.

Signed,

Cat Herder extraordinaire, LSD.

[roguevalley]

28. if I understand this right, she had calls made to obama delegates

that the thing was canceled. If it was an accident, then how many Hillary people got the same call? And, how is a lie -the thing is canceled- mitigated by this explanation? God, there is no end to the mendacity.

[Asgaya Dihi]

4. She's "mistakenly" doing a lot of things these days

Can't help with the honesty, competence, experience or any other aspect of what she's trying to sell. Ready on day one? For what?

Texas is weird, they could ignore it or this could piss them off and I'm not sure which it'll be. Since she keeps reminding us that State delegates aren't locked it would be something like justice if a dozen or so of hers defected in protest at the tactics. After all, she's the one who keeps reminding us that they can.

[anamandujano]

6. They are already doing it. I'm sure the Obama campaign planned

it in advance. Get people elected to delegates that never had any intention of representing their voters.

Great way to win.

[Asgaya Dihi]

9. You sure about that?

She's had defections since it started to get nasty in South Carolina, started with black leaders who had pledged for her and started to shift. Been going at a steady drip ever since with old friends and associates ranging from Kennedy to Richardson.

It's easy to sling assumptions but I see no basis for it and a lot of precedence to suggest that she's losing supporters left and right due to her tactics instead. In Superdelegates, right here on these boards, and among people she's known for years. Did Obama arrange all of it beforehand?

edit: correct north to south Carolina. oops ;)

[Evergreen Emerald]

18. oops..you got that backwards

Obama is the one who used race to win SC. The "nasty" was on the other side.

[Asgaya Dihi]

24. ehh

Matter of perception and I'm not going to get into a silly thing trying to force opinions on people, or allowing them to try it with me. No point. That's where the Superdelegate drip started and that's the reason they gave. If you think they were wrong that's your right, but Hillary probably needs to put more attention into the direction they are going than what either of us thinks. They matter a bit more ;)

From a note later in the thread it might have been a contractor error rather than anyone doing anything wrong, I hope so at least. We'll see. Too many "possibility" and "likely" points now in the article so I'll wait for more before going any farther in any direction with it. They don't seem to know anything for sure either.

[flor de jasmim]

19. You're saying Obama got weak delegates elected for Clinton? HOW??

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Wow. They won't stop at nothing to cheat. Gutter politics to the max. n/t

[MonkeyFunk]

7. Where's the cheating?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. Dirty tricks most likely

[Adelante]

11. Both campaigns did receive faulty information from Texas Dems

Confusion on both sides.

Guess What? Obama Is Not 'Poaching' Delegates in Texas

-snip

Why the discrepancy? Blame the middleman. According to spokesman Hector Nieto of the Texas Democratic Party, "the information that we gave to the campaigns was information given to us by the individual precincts. We then sent that information to a contractor to key it in to a spreadsheet. There's a possibility that an error was made when the information was keyed in." In other words, the precincts reported the correct candidate affiliations to the state party, but an outside contractor likely screwed up when entering those affiliations into a single spreadsheet --meaning that the Clinton and Obama campaigns received lists that incorrectly displayed at least a few Clinton delegates pledged to Obama (and perhaps vice versa).

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/28/guess-what-obama-is-not-poaching-delegates-in-texas.aspx

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Yep.

We had a Clinton supporter on our Obama list and an Obama supporter on our Clinton list. Luckily I was there and knew who was who and one call straightened it all out. In larger precincts that wouldn't be possible though.

[Life Long Dem]

15. When is she going to quit!

Not once in this whole campaign has Hillary played by the book.

[dailykoff]

16. I'm sure it was all just a BIG misunderstanding.

Can we get back to talking about Obama's former pastor?

[rainbow4321]

20. Misspeak is now MISDIALED!!

Over and over and over.....is the "robo" in the robocalling going to blame this on lack of sleep, also???

[blonndee]

17. They just "misspoke," I guess.

I wonder why that's been such a problem for that campaign.

[PM7nj]

21. Another "mistake"

Even if they just mistakingly called Obama delegates, why would they tell them it was canceled? Was that also a mistake?

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

23. I was called by them too!

And I am an Obama delegate!

[Orangepeel]

25. Did they tell you it was cancelled? If so, it's dirty tricks. If not, it's a mistake

Calling supporters of the opponent to give them the wrong information would be a dirty campaign trick (at least). Calling supporters of your opponent to remind them to go vote (for your opponent) wouldn't be done on purpose.

Have fun as a delegate SOR!

[seabeyond]

27. i dont know, but now i am curious. my husband and son took the hillary calls n/t

[seabeyond]

26. hubby and i have been called by both, several times. n/t

[democrattotheend]

29. I think that may have happened on both sides

I read reports about both candidates calling the other side's delegates, so this explanation might be credible. Bottom line: the Texas caucuses were poorly planned and poorly executed by the state party.